Category: Mike’s comments

Interest-free loans to cover deposits, so more people can get mortgages, is the wrong choice by the Chancellor for the country’s economy. As the National Housing Federation said yesterday (20th March), investing £3.5 billion this will cost in cheap housing could deliver up to 175,000 homes. Private sector completions have stayed fairly consistent over a… Continue reading BUILD MORE HOMES, DON’T GIVE MORE TO THE BANKS

Events over recent years have shown the devastating effect companies can have in their single-minded pursuit of profit. Over 1,000 workers dying in a Bangladesh building unfit for factory use is a stark example. Others are are huge supermarkets squeezing out competition and forcing suppliers to cut costs at risk to human health and animal… Continue reading Corporate Responsibility Should Be A Corporate Duty

So the despicable Spanish Government wants to make bullfighting a “cultural heritage” activity. Giving something a respectable sounding name does nothing to change the fact it is to be reviled. Did you know the Spanish (etc) Inquisition is still around, but now called “The Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office”? The Inquisition’s most enduring feature… Continue reading SPANISH DESPICABLE OVER BULLFIGHTING

I believe the most important “elephant in the room” for the Left is the question of “Britishness” and our failure to protect what is accepted as the place we have reached in our social and cultural development. We have ignored the fear of change coming too fast and being too drastic, collectively hoping it would… Continue reading Britishness must evolve slowly – rapid change is dangerous

Foremost in our dealings with other creatures should be a recognition that, if we take from them their lives for our own purposes, we should do everything rationally possible to do so in a way that minimises their suffering. That is why slaughter using methods for religious purposes, such as Halal or Kosher should not… Continue reading TIME TO BAN NON-STUNNED SLAUGHTER OF MEAT

The Labour Party’s recent history is as a government of war, privatisation, commerce and attacks on civil liberties. Just trying to present a slightly different flavour of the Tory Government’s policies will not see Labour back into power. Mealy mouth acceptance of the “need for cuts” or promises confined to adjustments to Tory policies won’t… Continue reading LABOUR MUST OFFER REAL CHANGE

Masses of media time and column inches are devoted to irrelevancies, like a private company not providing the Olympics security it promised, or a young Royal partying without his clothes. So why is the disgrace of slavery in the UK not a constant news item and crusade for politicians of all colours? On this day… Continue reading TIME TO TACKLE THE DISGRACE OF UK SLAVERY

A recent article in a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors publication described how there had been a workable balance in house building, post WWII, between private and public sectors, at around 100,000 each a year. That balance was broken around 1980 by the Thatcher Government, and not subsequently restored. Since then, the relative numbers of… Continue reading Is the end nigh for social/affordable housing?

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, announced last week that proposals in March 2012 to give shareholders more say on executive director pay in listed companies are to be watered down. At that time, the proposals were thought to be “virtually certain to take effect” after 1 October 2013, and would have a significant impact on executive… Continue reading Watering down shareholder control of executive director pay